


Crazy Ex-Boyfriend

by merperson1



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe- Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Multi, i think, no daredevil but yes superpowers, that's right kids who wants a semi-niche overlap of interests
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 20:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15008396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merperson1/pseuds/merperson1
Summary: Matt was working hard at a New York job making dough but it made him blue, and one day he way crying a lot so he decided to move to West Covina, CaliforniaDaredevil characters but with (loosely) Crazy-Ex Girlfriend plot





	Crazy Ex-Boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [returnsandreturns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/returnsandreturns/gifts).



> This is horribly self indulgent but I am having fun dammit!

**One of Roscoe Sweeny’s homes, 2005**

Matt’s blood was singing and he couldn’t remember the last time he felt truly _alive_ in this way. Elektra had brought him here to get revenge on his father’s killer, and every punch landed lifted another ounce of grief. By the time Sweeny was unconscious, Matt felt lighter than air, even as his knuckles had been split open and he heaved in his breath. He backs away, high on adrenalin and satisfaction, and he’s can’t help but talk in an excited rush. “Elektra that was _amazing._ My dad sure as Hell wouldn’t have approved, but hey, life can’t be entirely about studying, right? I mean, I wasn’t the only one here hitting, you felt that too, right?”

“Mmm.”

Matt was somewhat surprised at the lukewarm response, but it barely even registers against his euphoria. “You and me, Elektra. Just imagine the kind of things we can do together, imagine the kind of people we can _be_ together. We’re going to be damn near unstoppable.”

Elektra patted his shoulder, voice tight when she told him, “Oh sweetie, I’m afraid that’s not going to be the case. You see, this is where you and I part ways.”

That, however, cut through whatever joy he had gotten from the fight. “What? No. What do you mean? I love you.”

“And I appreciate that, Matthew, I truly do, but you couldn’t finish the job. Hence, I’ll be going now. Don’t call me.”

That’s all Elektra told him before she walked away, leaving him in a broken in house with an unconscious criminal.

 

**13 years later**

The screen-reader is droning on in one earbud, going over an article Matt had looked up on how much sleep deprivation a person can sustain before it kills them, as Matt wondered if his exhaustion would, in fact, soon be lethal. He doesn’t process the words that are being fed to him, and his mind is caught in a bit of haze, much like it has been for the past several..years. He has to get ready for work, he _knows_ he has too, but his limbs won’t cooperate. Maybe he forgot his meds again, or they’re working too well, or maybe he just _hates_ Landman and Zach. No, he doesn’t, he loves it there. Really. After all, it’s one of the most esteemed legal firms in the city, if not the entirety of the state of New York. A million lawyers would quite literally kill to be in his position, and his career would’ve made his dad so, _so_ proud. If he feels like he can barely get out of bed most days lately, well, he’s probably just getting sick. That must be it. Maybe he should even call in and take a sick day. (Yeah, sure, because sick days are definitely tolerated if you don’t have your name on the building. And casual Friday is also a thing that exists.)

“Ask yourself: When was the last time you were truly happy?”

The neutrally pleasant female voice cuts through the din of his thoughts and he snaps out of it. He listens a little longer, but the question turns out to just come from the voice-over a butter commercial. Huh. Odd. Odd enough, in fact, to get him out of his own head and actually start his day.

~*~

Matt’s already reading one of his current cases when he’s walking out of the elevator onto his floor. AS his hands are scanning, he notices the distinct scent of jasmine and vanilla perfume that only Laney wears as she approaches him, heart rate slightly elevated. Somewhat distractedly, he asks, “Good morning. Have you heard from the guys from corporate yet? I’m still waiting to hear about those loans?”

Laney ignores his question, instead tittering a bit, and he has to ask, “What? What’s wrong?”

If Matt had to guess, he would say that she does a shoulder shimmy, but he can’t entirely tell. “Parish wants to see you!”

“Oh God, why?”

Laney’s voice is bordering on squeal when she replies, “You’re getting promoted! To partner! Right now!”

Matt stretches out his sense, and lo and behold, the various amalgamation of information that results in Parish Landman is, in fact, about ten feet away and waiting for him. “Wait, now?!”

“Yeah! It’s a surprise!”

“Wha- how come nobody told me?”

There’s a moment of hesitation before Laney replies, “Because. Surprise!” and does, uh, jazz hands?

Suddenly, Matt’s heart-rate skyrockets and he feels faint. “Wow. Oh. Uh. Wow. I mean, this is fantastic, this is great, right?”

Laney whispers, “I know!” and Matt has to put his file down and lean against a cubicle wall. “This is fantastic, objectively. This is objectively fantastic. Like, on paper, fantastic, right? Wow. Wow wow wowwowwow.”

That’s when he hears the same butter ad on the radio, the same soft pleasant female voice ask, “When was the last time you were truly _happy?”_

And he can’t remember. For all his success, for all his career prowess and money and the opportunities, he _can’t_ remember the last time he was actually happy. His ears begin to ring and his throat is starting to close and he hears Janey say his name one or twice and he just needs to get out of there, immediately . “I’m sorry, I just, um, I’m gonna..go get a smoothie.”

“What? Where are you-”

“Yeah, just, you know, neglected breakfast and I’m starting to feel the drain, and there’s a place around the corner and I’m just, yeah, I’m gonna go.”

A distant part of him feels bad about leaving Laney in the dust like that, but honestly it takes everything in his power not to start running for the door. He does, however, speedwalk, forgetting his cane on the way. Not that he needs it, but the blind, caneless man muttering to himself as he half runs from the entryway of Landman and Zack probably isn’t a great look.

“I’m happy. What am talking about, when was the last time I was happy? I’m happy right now. This is what happy feels like. And think of how happy Dad would’ve been! This is happy. This is an incredible opportunity, and I’m being offered it, and I’m happy.”

That doesn’t explain the shortness of breath and the shaking of his hands and how he kind of want to crawl into a hole and die there like an animal, but it’s fine, it’s good. He just, he just needs a moment to sit down, to take his meds, and he’ll march right back in there and get that promotion and be happy.

Matt rests against the next alleyway he comes across, sliding down against it and pulling out his medication that he keeps around for emergencies like this. The jitteryness, however, hasn’t subsided, and he fumbles the pills he manages to pull out, and it makes him scream against his closed lips, just for a moment. Fine. He’ll handle it on his own, at least until he can get back to his apartment.

Since the universe seems destined to mock him at this moment, the man handing out fliers a street over gruffly calls out, “Hey! When’s the last time yous were truly happy?”

The panic he’s feeling right now is interrupted by the thought, “This is a hell of a way to market butter,” when he smells something that he hasn’t smelled since he was 20 years old. A scent custom made for one woman and one woman only: Elektra Natchios. The body proportions seem about right, and _no one else_ has ever smelled like that, so he goes out on a limb and assumes it’s her. Brushing himself on, he heads over the corner where she’s walking, waving a little wildly and excitedly asking, “ Elektra? Is that you? Elektra!”

Elektra whips around to face him, and he hopes that he doesn’t look like the mess that he was all of 20 seconds ago. “Matthew? My my, what a pleasant suprise.”

“Ha, yeah, crazy running into you here, after all this time! What’s it been? Thirteen years?”

“Give or take.”

“Wow. So, um, wow. That’s so wild, running into you here. Now. In my neighborhood! After so long!”

“It has indeed been a while. You’ve filled out quite a bit, no longer the scrawny young thing you were in college. I know we didn’t end on the best of terms, but I always hoped you’d live a good life after my absence.”

“Well, then, your timing is impeccable. I’m actually just about to be offered a partnership at a firm. Just like I’ve always wanted.”

“Oh, how wonderful! You’re really are prospering, aren’t you?”

Matt’s of two minds with how he wants to reply. Part of him wants to be completely ungracious, considering how their last meeting went, and tell her snidely, “No thanks to you.” He had spiraled for _months_ after she left, there were still scars, literal and emotional, from her absence. The other part of him wants to plesantly continue on, because right before that last night, their time together was _amazing._ He had definitely been happy with her. Exquisitely happy. _Truly_ happy. And maybe, just maybe, he could recapture that feeling again. “It would appear that way. So, you’re currently living in New York?”

“Yes, for the past eight months.”

“That’s great! We should really catch up sometime, maybe grab a coffee, or lunch?”

“However, I am moving.”

“Moving?”

“Yes. Dear old dad has decided that I was behaving irresponsibly in New York and my funds have been cut off. I suppose I could try to stick it out in the city, make my own way, but I find this place..isolating. I know that may sound odd, with over 8 million people in the area, but I find myself relieved to be heading home. I’ve been missing the community, and honestly? Everyone seems.. happier, there, I suppose.”

An idea plants itself directly in Matt’s chest, and he’s certain that soon it will overcome the rest of his body. In a daze, Matt quietly says, “Happy,” to himself, before asking Elektra, “And where, exactly, was home again?”

“For the past twenty years or so it’s been West Covina, California. My parents decided to settle down there, on account of the generally more comfortable atmosphere. I think they just got tired of traveling, honestly.”

“Right. West Covina. Of course. That’s close to the beach, isn’t it?”

“Comparatively, I suppose. The brochures say two hours, but we locals all know it’s closer to four.”

Matt laughs just a little too loud, and he’s..he’s pretty sure he’s in love. He’s just not sure with what quite yet, but he knows it’s something. “Well, um, don’t be a stranger. Let’s go grab a drank sometime, or no, you _just_ said you’re moving, sorry.”

“The sentiment is appreciated nonetheless. _Don’t_ be a stranger. I really must be going, but if you ever find your way over to the golden coast, look me up.”

Matt resists the obvious joke and says, “Will do,” as Elektra walks away. West Covina. A place where people are happy.

The idea becomes a plan, and as takes root in his mind and heart, the best way he knows how to describe it is like..like..like glitter exploding inside of him.

Goodbye Landman and Zach. Hello West Covina, California.

 

 

(and maybe Elektra. You know. If he just so happens to run into her.)

 

**Author's Note:**

> And we're at here in the story:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ZDNuakBsQ&index=3&list=PLoKbqB4BrdQCElEyHGTzXpFluRWeFR3pt
> 
> I probably won't write lyrics in the fic itself because readin lyrics always feels weird to me, so i'm gonna figure otu how to add links in the text to what would be the appropriate musical number plot wise
> 
> also jesus almost 2,000 words in and I haven't made it halfway through the first episode  
> oh well


End file.
